The film District 9 was indeed a highly enjoyable, satisfying, and in its own right, disturbing experience. To say that I had fun with it would be an understatement. Not only did I have fun with it, I broke out into song, singing praises of its greatness. District 9 takes place in modern day South Africa, specifically Johannesburg. In the film, an alien spacecraft is found in low orbit above the city , and upon inspection, a new, sentient species is discovered. As the new species is not human, they are placed in poorly constructed slums and scrape a living off of appalling conditions. The protagonist travels to the slums, and upon arriving, quickly becomes entangled in a desperate struggle to uncover the truth and and see justice done.
District 9 holds a number of lessons applicable to our current day and age. Although ethics of DNA extraction for alien weaponry use is hardly relevant, the principles behind the examples used in the film certainly are. Unfair and unethical treatment of those considered "sub-human" has continued over the years despite countless struggles to eradicate such atrocious action. Racial discrimination, slavery, prostitution, and ethnic genocide are but a few examples of unspeakable horrors being committed everyday. District 9 does a marvelous job at both subtlety and direct confrontation in pointing out how these problems are still prevalent and growing.
Although District 9 helps illuminate the issues at large, it does little in the way of offering practical or ethical solutions. Naturally, offering such a solution is not the goal of the film, but rather to ask the questions and provoke its audience into thinking and analysis. And thus here we are. What do we do about the problems of racial tension and ethno-national conflict? The Kingdom of God is unfortunately not with us, but we must strive to see it come to fruition on earth. Perhaps we must expand our minds and think creatively to solve these issues. Or perhaps these issues can only be fought within the boundaries of "the system". What do you think?
23 January 2010
Brick By Boring Brick
Paramore's new single "Brick By Boring Brick" seems to fit nicely into David Dark's definition of apocalyptic. The song (and especially the video, worth checking out) tells the story of a young girl-princess who "lives in a fairy tale." This fairy-tale world is the antithesis of the real world of "taste and smell." Perhaps many Christians today could place themselves in a similar Docetic dreamland, having "built up a world of magic/because your real life is tragic." The song advises that the fairy-tale girl needs to "Keep [her] feet on the ground/while [her] head's in the clouds," in other words stop trying to fly by clutching at butterflies and only managing to rip off their wings.
This first part of the story serves as an apocalyptic wake up call: "The real world is tragic and harsh, but you can't escape it." This is an important realization, but often leads to an overemphasis of worldliness and a despair that tries to cope with brutal reality. In "Brick By Boring Brick," this despair is represented in the chorus which exhorts everyone to get a shovel and bury "the castle," the imaginary home we've built up for ourselves in dreamland. The new home is not fanciful, but rather made "brick by boring brick" so no wolves can blow it down. However, how satisfying is this compromise? Certainly no one wants to live in a boring brick house, no matter how sturdy it is.
This is where the song takes a hopeful and (I'd argue) spiritual turn. In the bridge, the little girl is accused of having "built up a world of magic," but then the narrator chimes in with a version of C.S. Lewis' Argument from Desire. The song explains that "If [fairy land is] not real/you can't hold it in your hand/you can't feel it with your heart/and I won't believe it/but if it's true/you can see it with your eyes/or even in the dark/and that's where I want to be, yeah." Essentially, if no fairly land existed we wouldn't be able to wish for it, but if it is real it can be felt no matter the circumstances. This realization, this hope, is the rebirth of the little girl. Here I rely in the video, as the little girl falls headlong into the grave of the castle, Hayley, who is dressed exactly the same and seems to be the grown-up version of the little princess, walks away into a world covered in gold. The death of her perfect dream has not meant the death of her hope, even in the dark realities of life her hope shines all the more beautiful.
The empire tends to have two stories: either life is perfect and doesn't need any more attention or life is terrible and nothing can be done. Either way, reality is inevitable and hope doesn't really have a place. However, life in the Kingdom provides hope in the midst of darkness, neither is the world perfect or irredeemable but Christ is Lord over all. In Him we find the strength to carry on, and above that, radiate His glory.
Questions:
1. How can hope transform our outlook on life? How is it possible that Christ's power is made perfect in weakness (II. Cor. 12:9)?
2. How do you interpret the ending of the song and the video? Do the girl's fanciful beliefs leave her vulnerable unto death, or is she reborn stronger? Where is Hayley walking to as the video fades?
22 January 2010
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy, is a drama fallowing the lives of multiple doctors in Seattle Grace Hospital. In the latest episode, Christina is struggling with a decision of whether to choose love over career. Christina is currently a resident under surgeon Teddy Altman, who is in love with her boyfriend. Dr. Altman decides she must leave the hospital to get over Owen, Christina’s boyfriend. In a moment of panic Christina tells Teddy that she can have Owen if it means she’ll stay at the hospital. Along with other interesting twists the episode ends, yet again, with a catch.
There are many conflicting ideas in this drama that are attempting to answer what truly the human purpose is. Christine feels that her purpose lies in career and the feeling of accomplishing something meaningful, while other characters feel that love is what matters, finding the one you love. Grey’s Anatomy, though fictional, is an excellent picture of present day ideals and morals. The human purpose depends on the human. Purpose is different for each individual, and everyone’s idea of purpose is right. This idea can cause many issues, and create conflict, as seen in the episode. As Christians, the human purpose is to glorify God, not to please your desires.
Throughout Grey’s Anatomy many life altering decisions are being made. This is what keeps the show interesting. Many of the character’s decisions are poor, and the viewers can see the results of those decisions. Evil disguises itself in many forms. Evil can be very tricky and deceptive causing people to stumble, as we can see in Grey’s Anatomy. The empire’s affect can be seen throughout this show. Desires are met while trust and relationships are broken. Evil works through the disguise of the empire and thought that we should have what we want no matter what. Evil wants to isolate and meet desires keeping one unsatisfied and alone. This can be seen throughout the show in many characters.
Grey’s Anatomy is a thrilling show full of scandal, twists, and suspense, and though it may be enjoyable one must realize that the life styles displayed in the show are destructive and not Kingdom oriented. God intended us to be in healthy community.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you agree with Christine’s decision to fallow her career even if it means breaking the trust of someone who loves her?
- How might a Christian go about this hard decision of choosing career over family or relationship?
Private Practice
Private Practice is about a group of doctors who work in L.A. They are all friends and are all connected in some way or another whether it is by blood or romantically. This specific episode was about Mia, who is the daughter of Sam and Naomi, divorced doctors who work at the practice. She discovers that she is pregnant, even though she is only fifteen. Naomi freaks out and demands that Mia get an abortion immediately, even though she is against abortion and believes that the baby’s life begins right after it is conceived. After seeing another woman’s pain in trying to do a natural childbirth, Mia agrees. Addison, Naomi’s best friend will perform the abortion. However, at the last moment, Mia decides that she does not want an abortion. Naomi is furious and marches her into the room of the lady undergoing the natural childbirth. Instead of getting scared and nervous, Mia is filled with joy as she sees the little baby being handed to the mother for the first time.
This very brief overview of the episode shows us the struggles and problems of living in this empire. Human sin is very prevalent in this episode, the fact that Mia got pregnant at such a young age, the way her mother, Naomi, reacts to the situation. Naomi wants a quick and easy solution that will make the whole issue go away so that her family can continue to function like nothing happened. This is a prime example of the way that the empire wants us to act us to situations like this. They encourage us to do whatever makes us happy, and if problems arise, then take the quick and easy way out and everything will be ok. However, the episode did not end there. There is a small glimmer of hope as Mia decides to not undergo an abortion. This decision shows an example of redemption. Although Mia is in a very tough situation, she makes the choice to keep her baby. She chose to give this baby a life and a future instead of treating it like a mistake and having an abortion.
Discussion Questions:
1. What would have been a better reaction for Naomi to have after she heard about her daughter’s pregnancy?
2. What lessons can we learn about the empire from this episode concerning how it wants us to act when problems from previous choices arise?
This very brief overview of the episode shows us the struggles and problems of living in this empire. Human sin is very prevalent in this episode, the fact that Mia got pregnant at such a young age, the way her mother, Naomi, reacts to the situation. Naomi wants a quick and easy solution that will make the whole issue go away so that her family can continue to function like nothing happened. This is a prime example of the way that the empire wants us to act us to situations like this. They encourage us to do whatever makes us happy, and if problems arise, then take the quick and easy way out and everything will be ok. However, the episode did not end there. There is a small glimmer of hope as Mia decides to not undergo an abortion. This decision shows an example of redemption. Although Mia is in a very tough situation, she makes the choice to keep her baby. She chose to give this baby a life and a future instead of treating it like a mistake and having an abortion.
Discussion Questions:
1. What would have been a better reaction for Naomi to have after she heard about her daughter’s pregnancy?
2. What lessons can we learn about the empire from this episode concerning how it wants us to act when problems from previous choices arise?
21 January 2010
Totally like whatever, you know?
Our housemate Aminah read this poem to us tonight (not without some difficulty, given the punctuation) and it struck me as particularly convicting in the context of our class. Enjoy...
Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali
In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.
Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali
In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?
Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?
What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!
And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!
I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.
Soon-Chan Rah and Church Structures
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I went to hear Soon-Chan Rah speak about ‘The Next Evangelicalism & the Changing Face of American Christians’ as a part of the January series. Soon-Chan Rah is an Asian-American Pastor who served as the founding senior pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church in Massachusetts-an urban, multi-ethnic and post-modern generation church.
One point he made, that I found very interesting, was about the structure of churches. He divided church structures into two basic categories: marginalized and mainstream. He described marginalized churches as being a typical Midwestern church with slanted/arched ceilings, similar to that of the bottom of a boat (but upside down). He then talked about how that was related to Noah’s Ark, but how maybe that wasn’t a positive thing. It gives off the message that yes, the world is condemned and destroyed, but here in the ark/church, we’re safe from all of that evil. We can create ‘Christian’ music, art, and shirts that are just rip offs of secular things because we don’t care about the world. And we don’t care about the world because we are safe in the ark. That was a crazy thought for me, because my home church is an ‘ark’ structure and I really liked it growing up, and going to churches that weren’t like that made me very uncomfortable, but maybe that’s why. He then described the mainstream churches as ‘movie theatre churches’ because of how their sanctuaries are set up like a movie theatre. He talked about how mega-churches are beginning to look more like malls than churches (similar to the conversation in class we had yesterday) with all of their bookstores, food, coffee shops, and play areas. He believes that these churches are being mainstreamed into the world. There’s a lot of thinking that Christians today need to be doing about what the church should look like. And as we think, we should keep in mind all of the people who meet in store front churches because that’s all they have.
Of course, he covered many other points about the church as well, such as multi-ethnicity in the churches and such, but in light of our class discussion yesterday, I thought this would be an interesting part of his lecture to talk about, besides the fact that I’m already way over my word limit, oops...
Questions:
Following up on yesterday’s conversation, what are some other thoughts people have in light of ‘mega-churches’ and whether they’re good or not? Does it matter if they have stadium seating or not?
And also, what do people who, like myself, went to small, ark-shaped churches think about them? Are we behind the times? Or does the structure of the church even really matter?
One point he made, that I found very interesting, was about the structure of churches. He divided church structures into two basic categories: marginalized and mainstream. He described marginalized churches as being a typical Midwestern church with slanted/arched ceilings, similar to that of the bottom of a boat (but upside down). He then talked about how that was related to Noah’s Ark, but how maybe that wasn’t a positive thing. It gives off the message that yes, the world is condemned and destroyed, but here in the ark/church, we’re safe from all of that evil. We can create ‘Christian’ music, art, and shirts that are just rip offs of secular things because we don’t care about the world. And we don’t care about the world because we are safe in the ark. That was a crazy thought for me, because my home church is an ‘ark’ structure and I really liked it growing up, and going to churches that weren’t like that made me very uncomfortable, but maybe that’s why. He then described the mainstream churches as ‘movie theatre churches’ because of how their sanctuaries are set up like a movie theatre. He talked about how mega-churches are beginning to look more like malls than churches (similar to the conversation in class we had yesterday) with all of their bookstores, food, coffee shops, and play areas. He believes that these churches are being mainstreamed into the world. There’s a lot of thinking that Christians today need to be doing about what the church should look like. And as we think, we should keep in mind all of the people who meet in store front churches because that’s all they have.
Of course, he covered many other points about the church as well, such as multi-ethnicity in the churches and such, but in light of our class discussion yesterday, I thought this would be an interesting part of his lecture to talk about, besides the fact that I’m already way over my word limit, oops...
Questions:
Following up on yesterday’s conversation, what are some other thoughts people have in light of ‘mega-churches’ and whether they’re good or not? Does it matter if they have stadium seating or not?
And also, what do people who, like myself, went to small, ark-shaped churches think about them? Are we behind the times? Or does the structure of the church even really matter?
More dollars = more votes
Aaron sent in a link to this article about a recent Supreme Court decision to overturn a 20-year-old law limiting the amount of money corporations can spend on independent campaign advertising. This change gives corporations more latitude to produce advertising that encourages you, the voting viewer, to choose the candidate who's more likely to advocate policy that will be good for the corporation's own bottom line.
Roberts' assessment is based on several assumptions: that a corporation is just one more equal voice in "vibrant public discourse," and that its opinion won't drown out you and me; that corporations are equal to people as the "foundation of our democracy"; that a large corporation's buying power doesn't represent a serious imbalance of power. Makes me think of the guy at the public debate in The Corporation who says the idea of voting with our dollars is great, but if you have more dollars, you get more votes.
For me, this all calls to mind the question The Persuaders was asking about the political language work of Frank Luntz. Are they attempting to more clearly articulate what people really want and need or are they just trying to figure out how to get us to desire what they want to sell us, as if it was our idea? With this court ruling, it's going to be even more important for each of you to be asking this question when it comes to politics.
SARCASM ALERT: It's a good thing our Supreme Court is populated by such noble champions for our poor, underprivileged, multi-billion dollar businesses.
[Chief Justice John] Roberts, in a separate opinion, said that upholding the limits would have restrained "the vibrant public discourse that is at the foundation of our democracy."
Roberts' assessment is based on several assumptions: that a corporation is just one more equal voice in "vibrant public discourse," and that its opinion won't drown out you and me; that corporations are equal to people as the "foundation of our democracy"; that a large corporation's buying power doesn't represent a serious imbalance of power. Makes me think of the guy at the public debate in The Corporation who says the idea of voting with our dollars is great, but if you have more dollars, you get more votes.
For me, this all calls to mind the question The Persuaders was asking about the political language work of Frank Luntz. Are they attempting to more clearly articulate what people really want and need or are they just trying to figure out how to get us to desire what they want to sell us, as if it was our idea? With this court ruling, it's going to be even more important for each of you to be asking this question when it comes to politics.
SARCASM ALERT: It's a good thing our Supreme Court is populated by such noble champions for our poor, underprivileged, multi-billion dollar businesses.
Upside Down Campaign: Make Affluence History
From the founders of the subversive Geez Magazine comes a campaign to Make Affluence History. Check it out for practice ideas--generally or related to your final project. With a mission to create "holy mischief in an age of fast faith," Geez will require you to be ready to discern between what's tongue-in-cheek and what's sincere--think The Simpsons, but more overtly and consistently aimed at the follies of Christianity.
Mall Post
One of the only places in the current human society which people in all walks of life participate is the mall. Commodities and items are made by people in countries who will never walk the halls of the religious sanctum. Corporations produce the product, involving countless middle men, and advertisers make the product appealing. The consumers are brought together under specific corporations, catering to their personal preferences, uniting them under their ‘scene’ (Indies, punks, high class, blue color, even ‘christianity’ and Christianity). These people would never meet in most of their everyday lives because each ‘scene’ has a culture of their own. The mall is a place where stuff is sold and everyone believes they need stuff to a certain extent. Every thing and every one is connected through the Mall. And they, we, are all still able to rub shoulders with each other without thinking or communicating to what is in front of them.
Guido Beach
The television show Jersey Shore has swept the nation collecting millions of fans and tons of attention. The show features four guys and four girls who live on the jersey shore for an entire summer. Mike, "the situation," DJ Pauly D, Ronnie, and Vinny are four self obsessed East-coasters who love to drink and have sex with girls every night. The female portion consists of Angelina, Jenni, "J-wow," Nicole, "Snookie," and Sammi, "Sweet Heart" who are equally as obsessed with their appearance and individual needs.
When I first watched the show I was not surprised that MTV had produced another filthy reality show. I continued to watch and I was astonished at how ridiculous the characters were acting. I found that was laughing at how absurd and totally worldly their mind sets were. I began to enjoy the show as an exaggeration of the evil world that we live in. Everything they were saying was incredibly stubborn and illogical They represent everything that is wrong with this world and the empire that controls us. The entire cast from Jersey Shore are products, or children of "mother empire." They live lives full of sin and self fulfillment. I would like to believe that MTV is hosting this show as a form of comedy rather than drama but I don't think the world is that fortunate. Instead, millions of teenage Americans will take this show seriously, adore the characters and replicate the purely self destructive lives which are portrayed on this sad show. Discussion Questions,
1.) What do you think about the messages that this show is giving to American youth?
2.) Do you think this show is a distinct development of the empire?
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